Top five Toronto Raptors performances from a tough week seven

3. Fred VanVleet

Opponent: Houston Rockets

Stat line: 20 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 1 block

A similar story to Norman Powell’s, many people were also expecting Fred VanVleet’s production to fall with the return of Kyle Lowry. Unlike Powell, VanVleet was not set to lose his starting job as he was just moved over to the shooting guard spot. It was the fact that he could not run the offense as much that was a cause of concern for VanVleet. That did not stop VanVleet as he was quick to shut down any doubts.

The first quarter saw VanVleet play a more facilitating role as he dished out three assists equating to six points and scored three points of his own. Steady Freddy continued to produce in the second quarter as he scored another six points and assisted in four more points as he finished the half with nine points and five assists.

With the Raptors down eight points, VanVleet took it upon himself to attack more as he scored nine points in the third quarter and helped reduce the lead to six points. Unfortunately for the Raptors, they weren’t able to come back in this game as VanVleet was only able to muster another two points in the final quarter.

This performance was very encouraging for Fred VanVleet as his scoring remained fairly similar even with the return of Lowry. One stat that has been extremely impressive not only in this game but throughout the season is VanVleet’s steal output. Last season VanVleet was only able to secure 0.9 steals per game, but this year he has seen that number propel as he is now a league leader in steals and is averaging 2.0 steals per game so far. With three more steals in this game, VanVleet has shown that this steals output is not an anomaly and is here to stay.